Brainstorming about history, politics, literature, religion, and other topics from a 'gypsy' scholar on a wagon hitched to a star.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Fiction: I sign away my soul!

My Artless Contract with the Devil?Art by Terrance Lindall

I'm considering 'changing' my name to Aitch Jae Hodges because Terrance has made an artful sight gag at my expense in the above illustration by having the nameless hero of The Bottomless Bottle of Beer sign away his soul with my name! You can see this actually occurring on the video at nearly 3 minutes (but don't watch the entire video or read the accompanying text if you want to avoid plot spoilers).

If I were to 'alter' my name to Aitch Jae Hodges, I wouldn't even need to get a legal change to make the signature official, for "Aitch Jae" is how one spells "H. J."

But why 'change' it at all? Because I'd like to avoid even a symbolic gesture of signing my soul over to the Adversary! Maybe some fellow named Horace Jeffery signed away his soul, but Aitch Jae? Never!

So, how does "Aitch Jae Hodges" sound? What do readers think?

But don't nobody go hog wild and suggest that I spell my surname "Aitch-oh-dee-gee-e-ess" because there's no end to that procedure since "Aitch" itself would be spelled "A-i-tee-cee-aitch," which could itself be spelled out, and my name would grow boundlessly long!

First question first - while that rolls smoothly off the mental tongue as one reads aloud to oneself Aitch Jae sounds like it might could lead somebody somewhere to thinking a link where puttin' a charge for a DNA test could be up for grabs.

Yesterday I went to a dentist who a few decades ago was a guitar player. Much to my surprise he was familiar with certain sorts of stuff and while he had a drill in close proximity to something tender to me, mentioned a few Gypsy Scholar comment threads.

Fortunately, the root canal is on his dime.

There've been some few other things but neither of us will ever get too close to such stuff again, don't you think?

About Me

I am a professor at Ewha Womans University, where I teach composition, research writing, and cultural issues, including the occasional graduate seminar on Gnosticism and Johannine theology and the occasional undergraduate course on European history.
My doctorate is in history (U.C. Berkeley), with emphasis on religion and science. My thesis is on John's gospel and Gnosticism.
I also work as one-half of a translating team with my wife, and our most significant translation is Yi Kwang-su's novel The Soil, which was funded by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
I'm also an award-winning writer, and I recommend my novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer, to anyone interested.
I'm originally from the Arkansas Ozarks, but my academic career -- funded through doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships (e.g., Fulbright, Naumann, Lady Davis) -- has taken me through Texas, California, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, and Israel and has landed me in Seoul, South Korea. I've also traveled to Mexico, visited much of Europe, including Moscow, and touched down briefly in a few East Asian countries.
Hence: "Gypsy Scholar."